Marc Sirico
Prof. Vogel
TS550
8/22/09
Lesson #1: Microsoft Word Integration
Topic: World War II Leaders
Subject: Social Studies/English
Grade Level: 8th Grade
Time/Class Period: 3 minute class periods
State Learning Standards:
 Social Studies Learning Standard 1- Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their
understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in the history of the United
States and New York.
 Social Studies Learning Standard 2- Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their
understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in world history and examine
the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.
 Social Studies Learning Standard 5- Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their
understanding of the necessity for establishing governments; the governmental system of the U.S. and other
nations; the U.S. Constitution; the basic civic values of American constitutional democracy; and the roles,
rights, and responsibilities of citizenship, including avenues of participation.
Overall Goal: Students will become exposed to the importance of leadership and how leaders’ successes and
failures can influence the direction of a country and the world.
Objectives: Students will be able to
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Build upon what they learned in previous classes and develop an opinion about leaders based on
their apparent failures and successes.
Locate and utilize books and articles using the library system in the school.
Format and organize a Microsoft Word document into a Historical Baseball Card with
bullets/numbering, tables, pictures/clipart/WordArt, borders, etc.
NOTE: Students should know basic formatting techniques like bulleting, numbering, and inserting
clipart. Students will be taught on other formatting techniques like borders and shading, inserting tables,
text boxes, and inserting WordArt.
Materials and Resources:
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Textbook
Access to Internet/Library Resources
Microsoft Word
SmartBoard/Projector
Procedure/Activity:
First Class Period: Introduction
1.) Introduce the “Baseball Card” Project. Hand out sheet with the goals of the project.
2.) Have a student volunteer read the handout.
3.) Show the students previous examples or a teacher made example of what is expected of the students.
4.) Announce the pre-determined groups and situate the students within their groups in clusters scattered around
the room.
5.) Provide students with some preliminary sources (teacher-approved internet links and biographies).
6.) Allow Groups to work together to assign each other tasks/roles or to construct a layout of the baseball card.
Second Class Period: Research
1.) Bring students to the library/computer lab, if necessary; expose students to library resources, for
example, online databases, reference works, and teacher approved online resources.
2.) Show students an example of a layout of a historical baseball card with formatting options of
bulleting, numbering, font changes, tables, and clipart/picture integration. Significant focus should
be placed on Borders and WordArt formatting techniques.
3.) Allow students to research biographical information on assigned leaders, with a focus on successes
and failures.
4.) Allow time for students to develop a template for their historical baseball card.
Third Class Period: Data Input and Formatting
1.) Students will complete any remaining research and will begin inputting data.
2.) Students will locate any necessary clipart/pictures and place them into the Word document.
3.) Students will organize and format their information with bulleting, numbering, tables, and any
other formatting techniques.
4.) Students will, based on their research, establish a rational “batting average” which grades their
leader’s overall performance while in office during the Second World War.
5.) Student groups will hand in their baseball card and for homework will write a short essay on their
leader and their rational for the “batting average” they posted on the baseball card.
Closure: Students will write their short essays for homework, which will prepare them for their final
presentation of the historical baseball card during the next class session. Students should be able to explain
where they found their information and also how they formatted their Word document and their rationale for
using certain formatting techniques.
Assessment/Evaluation:
Front of Card: (15 percentage points)
1.) Picture of individual found on the Internet or in other scanned sources (____/5 points)
2.) Name of individual (____/5 points)
3.) Symbol associated with the individual (____/5 points)
Back of Card: (65 percentage points)
1.) The full name and leadership position of your historical figure and his or her birth date & death date
(____/5 points)
2.) The city/country where your figure was born AND where he or she earned their fame (____/10
points)
3.) Identify two of this person’s major achievements (____/20 points)
4.) Using your own personal opinion: Identify one weakness of this person’s character (____/5 points)
5.) Using your own personal opinion: Identify one strength of this person’s character (____/5 points)
6.) Career high – in your opinion, the single most important thing (not listed in #4 above) that the
individual accomplished (____/5 points)
7.) In paragraph form, using complete sentences, write a brief summary of this person’s historical
importance (____/15 points)
Quality and Formatting: (20 percentage points)
1.) Card is organized and formatted with at least 3 of the following [Bulleting, Numbering, Tables,
Borders, WordArt] (____/15 points)
2.) Grammar/Spelling Punctuation (____/5 points)
Baseball Card Group Project
In groups, you will design a baseball card for the leader you are assigned.
Leaders to be assigned include
 Franklin Delano Roosevelt
 Adolph Hitler
 Joseph Stalin
 Winston Churchill
 Harry Truman
 Eleanor Roosevelt
 Emperor Hirohito
You will outline on the back of your baseball card the following information
 Basic Information (Dates of Birth, Death, Hometown, Historical Position,
Career High, “A Batting Average”)
 At least 2 Major Achievements
 One Strength and One Weakness
 Summary highlighting historical significance
You will present your leader to us in class on Friday. During the presentation, you will tell
us whether you believe that your leader was overall, effective or ineffective and why. It is
important that every student in the group contribute to the presentation and to the
physical baseball card, since both products count towards your final grade.
You will be graded based on:
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Creativity of Baseball Card
Presentation of Baseball Card
Historical Accuracy of your facts (Include your sources on back)
The clarity of your rationale for effectiveness/ineffectiveness
Obvious Preparation
Cohesiveness as a group
“What’s a Good batting average?”
A batting average represents a percentage. It can range from .000, being the worst, to
1.000 being the best. An excellent batting average for a baseball player could range .275 to
.350 (or higher, very rare though). The average batting average for a baseball player ranges
from .250 to .274. A batting average from .200 to .250 is fair. A batting average below .200
is poor. Use this information, when you are determining the batting average of a leader.
Rubric
Front of Card: (15 percentage points)
1.) Picture of individual found on the Internet or in other scanned sources
(____/5 points)
2.) Name of individual (____/5 points)
3.) Symbol associated with the individual (____/5 points)
Back of Card: (65 percentage points)
1.) The full name and leadership position of your historical figure and his or her
birth date & death date (____/5 points)
2.) The city/country where your figure was born AND where he or she earned
their fame (____/10 points)
3.) Identify two of this person’s major achievements (____/20 points)
4.) Using your own personal opinion: Identify one weakness of this person’s
character (____/5 points)
5.) Using your own personal opinion: Identify one strength of this person’s
character (____/5 points)
6.) Career high – in your opinion, the single most important thing (not listed in
#4 above) that the individual accomplished (____/5 points)
7.) In paragraph form, using complete sentences, write a brief summary of this
person’s historical importance (____/15 points)
Quality and Formatting: (20 percentage points)
1.) Card is organized and formatted with at least 3 of the following [Bulleting,
Numbering, Tables, Borders, WordArt] (____/15 points)
2.) Grammar/Spelling Punctuation (____/5 points)
TOTAL (FINAL GRADE)
_____/100
Basic Information
Full Name: Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill
Date of Birth: November 30, 1874 in Blenheim, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom
Date of Death: January 24, 1965 in Hyde Park, London, England, United Kingdom
Historical Position during WWII: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Career High: Management of the North Africa War Theater
Batting Average: .310
Major Achievements
1.) Prime Minister Churchill refused to accept an armistice with Nazi Germany. By refusing an
armistice with Germany, Churchill kept resistance alive in the British Empire and created
the basis for the later Allied counter-attacks of 1942-45, with Britain serving as a platform
for the supply of the Soviet Union and the liberation of Western Europe.
2.) Upon assuming leadership, Churchill immediately put his friend and confidant, the
industrialist and newspaper baron Lord Beaverbrook, in charge of aircraft production. It
was Beaverbrook's business acumen that allowed Britain to quickly gear up aircraft
production and engineering that eventually made the difference in the war.
Summary of Historical Significance
Sir Winston Churchill had long been prescient about the threat posed
by Nazi Germany, but by the time he took over as Prime Minister of
the United Kingdom in 1940, the “Gathering Storm” of which he’d
warned had already broken out. Mr. Churchill’s leadership during the
Second World War proved both inspiring and inspired. His rhetoric
and action helped his nation withstand devastating deprivation and
emerge stronger than ever.